So Sick of Love Strung

Manley and Roger checked the surrounding rooms for any more combatants, until they opened one door. This door opened to the central room with most of the party guests. They quickly retreated and started to backtrack.

"Goddammit, stop spamming the group chat…okay. Let's go," said Manley.

Manley and Roger rushed to the kitchen area prepared for a fight. The came upon the scene of several men, two of which had guns, having a staring contest with four dogs. The dogs just sat there and wag their tails, and the men either held still or moved slowly trying to get around them.

"Close your eyes," said Manley in group chat. "Blind them," he said in party chat.

Roger raised his hands, the men looked away from the dogs to the two approaching them. A bright flash, they covered their faces, and the dogs were on them. The two men with guns had two dogs each on them. Manley punched the two chefs in their solar plexus.

Critical Strike X2

Roger grabbed the two men that looked like gang members by the throat as his hands began to glow.

EXP Gained 20

The dogs managed to get both men on the ground and tear into their throats.

EXP Gained 30

"Why didn't that burn your hands," asked Manley.

"I don't burn things unless I focus my energy. If I just released it into their bodies like just now, it hurts them but not me. If they were made of metal, then it would heat up and burn me," said Roger.

"Mmm…you are smart, obviously not that smart if you're dating a white woman in this day and age."

"Wha…how did you—"

"People talk, lets go finish this mission."

Roger and Manley didn't even check the kitchen, they just rushed upstairs.

At the top of the stairs, they came to a hallway, and at the other end, they could see the rest of the team. Swen said something to Rennie, then Rennie pointed at them then to the left side of the hallway. He then pointed at himself then to the right side of the hallway.

Anthony broke right, he started trying to open doors, while Delvin stood by to go in first. Roger and Manley copied them with Manley opening the door and Roger on standby to blind anyone in the room.

The first room was empty, the second was locked. Manley chose to knock but no one answered. They decided to skip that one, for now. The two teams met up in the middle of the hallway at the third door. Swen nodded to Manley and Roger, then held up four fingers. He turned to his team and showed five fingers. Manley sent a message to the dogs in the group chat and sent them back to the stairway to standby.

Manley and Anthony opened their respective doors at the same time. Roger flashed the room before his whole body passed the threshold, while Delvin opened fire on the other side.

Manley rushed in behind Roger, going for the right side of the room. Three men were on that side, in suits. There was a lady on the other side of the room with a ruby red dress on.

Roger changed targets and blasted the two men in front of Manley. Manley hit the last guy in the head with his cane.

EXP Gained 30

LEVEL UP

FREE Attributes Gained 2

PARTY Member Max 3

GROUP Member Max 7

Manley then jumped over the couch and approach the lady cowering in the corner.

"Stop, she is innocent. You…can't hurt a lady," said Roger.

"The hell I can't," said Manley. He hit her across the face with his cane then proceeded to brain her while she was down.

Critical Strike

EXP Gained 15

Roger rushed up and wrapped up his arms then pulled him away from the woman.

"What are you doing!" said Roger.

"She was one of our targets, I was trying to finish it quick. I didn't want your sensibilities to screw us," said Manley.

"But she was a lady."

"A lady that is one of the most ruthless gang leaders in Chicago."

"…"

They ran back out into the hallway in time to see the other team finish on their end.

"All targets are down, regroup at the vans," said Swen.

The group rushed out of the villa and made it back to the vans. They could still hear the chaos of people screaming and running away from the place. The gun shots from Rennie's team had alarmed the guests on the first floor.

Manley loaded the dogs in the back, and everyone loaded up in their respective vans. They calmly drove away from the scene. They didn't want to get caught up in the rush of vehicles driving away from the villa.

They made it back to the meeting point after taking the long way around. Ainest was there already, looking nervous. He was pacing around till he spotted the vehicles, then he rushed up to them.

"Did you get them!" asked Ainest.

"All dead, don't worry," said Rennie.

"Good, good. As promised, you will get your money. Help me, do the next job and you will have your new life. The other two will get paid very well."

"Why two weeks, I thought you were in a hurry?"

"He is hard to find, I need the time to pin him down."

The group went their separate ways after getting paid. Manley, started to wonder where Ainest gets all this money. I realized a while back that Ainest was making a play to gain position within his own family. Unfortunately, he has no way of investigating that deeply into gang politics.

Manley and Roger went back to their hideout to stash the money, van and dogs. They were going to wait a few days before depositing that much money in the bank. When they did, it would be in small amounts rather than all at once.

Manley Spent some time training the dogs and working on his stagnant stats.

Manley "Buff" Hill Race: Human/Mutant

Age: 12 EXP. 517/1000 LV. 2

TITLE: Mutant [Title Effect] Reality Manipulator

HP: 220/220 MP: 180/180

ATTRIBUTES

STR 18

AGI 20

DEX 18

CON 22

WIS 14

INT 18

CHA 7

READING ADVANCE LV7 Reading Speed +120% Motion Tracking +10%

BIOLOGY BASIC LV9 Critical Strikes 180%

ANALYZE BASIC LV8 Receive Subject Details

BRAWLING BASIC LV5 Increase Attack and Defense +40%

ANIMAL TRAINING LV6 Improved Communication with Animals

TEACHING LV7 Teaching Speed +14%

Two days later Manley was at the base, but Roger was not.

"Roger where are you?" asked Manley in the party chat.

"I am almost there," said Roger.

Roger showed up five minutes later with a bruised cheek and breathing heavy.

"What happened to you?" asked Manley.

"Julia!"

"Who?"

"My girlfriend Julia, her brother and his friends came after me. I went to see her, but she was acting different. They surround us and accuse me of taking advantage of her…she took their side."

"I guess my warning didn't help."

"Warning? This is serious. I was able to win but they said they will go to the police."

"Relax, the worse they could do is keep you away from her. You may be mixed but both your parents are white, so they can't just cover it up."

"Relax! I loved her, I thought she loved me…how could she do this, how could they."

"Pressure from her family most likely. She knew she had no future with you, so she had to save her reputation. At least I think that's what happened, are you going to be alright?'

The dogs started growling and pacing around.

"Hey, Roger, did you tell Julia about this place?"

"No, I am not an idiot!"

"Okay buddy, do you think you were followed." Manley spoke slowly while making his way to the road, with the dogs leading the way.

"I don't think so…"

They hid in the overgrown bushes partially concealing the abandoned building behind them.

Several young men were out on streets, looking around.

"I thought you said he went this way?" asked one man.

"He did, bastard-colored moves fast," said another.

Manley looked over at Roger next to him, Roger avoided his eyes.

The men were getting closer to the abandon building, although they cast a wide net. Some of them spotted the path leading towards the building.

"Look at this, looks like a car been through here recently," said teen boy.

"He wasn't driving," said a man.

"He doesn't have to drive to go this way," said another man.

The rest of the group started to make their way over as those three followed the path.

"What do we do!" said Roger. He was crouching in the grass and whispering to Manley.

"I got this," said Manley.

The group was getting closer to the building when four dogs jumped out of the bushes at them. The young men froze up for a second. The ones further away started running before the ones in front could react. Eventually the whole group took off running back where they came.

Roger breathed a sigh of relief after the group left. When he was able to calm down, he sank back into a depression. He remembered what happened and the potential disaster he just avoided could only do so much to distract him.

Manley let him sulk for ten minutes before saying anything.

"There will be other girls," said Manley.

"What am I supposed to do, be like you! Spend all my time training and avoiding people." Roger realized what he just said and looked up at Manley. "I am sorry, didn't mean it like that."

"It's okay, things are probably confusing from your prospective. The training that we do, made your body bigger than any kid your age has any right to be. This led to you getting attention from girls a lot older than you. Listen puberty is a bitch, but you can't let it consume you. You have your whole life to date girls, we are still kids Roger, I know it doesn't feel like it. The life we are living right now is dangerous and your relationship wouldn't have lasted even if you could hide it."

"Is that why you don't have a girlfriend?"

"Ha hahaha. No, I've been going to school with older girls for a lot longer than you and I've been doing a lot more than talking. I just kept it to the high school bathrooms, no further."

"So, what do I do now, they're going to keep coming for me."

"Don't worry about it, we'll be going to college soon and out of this area for a time."